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Inquest into Fulham’s disastrous campaign must wait until May, says Scott Parker

Press Association Sport

12:44 03/03/2019

Scott Parker believes the inquest into Fulham’s disastrous Premier League campaign must wait until May.

The Cottagers splashed out more than £100million on new players following promotion last summer but have since sacked two managers and appear condemned to an immediate return to the Championship.

Caretaker boss Parker has been tasked with bringing some stability back to Craven Cottage after replacing Claudio Ranieri on Thursday.

The 38-year-old inherits a team 10 points adrift of safety ahead of Sunday’s derby with west London rivals Chelsea.

“At the end of the season, whether you’re winning leagues or getting relegated, it’s a time to reflect and work out where the mistakes have been made and where you can improve things,” he said.

“There’s no denying, and it doesn’t lie, that the owners of this football club have invested an awful lot of money. Ultimately they have the club’s best interests at heart.

“I’m sure at the end of the season, when all the dust is settled, everyone will sit around a table and say ‘OK, look, this, this and this wasn’t good enough, this was perfect’.”

Parker, who was first-team coach under predecessors Slavisa Jokanovic and Ranieri, has 10 games in which to pull off an improbable great escape.

The former England midfielder acknowledges that the club’s position is perilous but wants his players to strive for survival until it is no longer mathematically possible.

Parker was relegated from the Premier League as a West Ham player in 2011 and admits the experience hurts.

“It does,” he said.

“It’s the same situation you find yourself in when you go into any club which is down at the bottom of the league. They’ll all have the same issues – confidence, whatever that may be.

“Certainly I’ve got experience from that as a player from being relegated. I’d like to learn from that and get that across to the players.”

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